Halloscream
by Tigey Wigey
Summary: With wispy, ghost-like clouds littering the dark sky above, the animals living in the valley below are preparing themselves for the most dangerous and terrifying day of the year: Halloween. Savage beasts linger in the shadows, stalking those who are unfortunate enough to cross their paths. With danger around every turn, can the herd survive the night? O.o


-Okay, this was meant to be a Halloween special...And I have no idea if anyone's celebrating Halloween at the same time I am with all the time zones and all, but please enjoy!

-This takes place after the third movie, but before the Christmas special. FYI...

-I don't own any Ice Age characters, blah blah blah, not even the awesomely magnificent Diego, blah blah blah, they belong to Blue Sky Studios, blah blah blah.

-Enjoy, and Happy Halloween! O.o

* * *

Tigey Wigey Productions presents an

**_ICE AGE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:_**

**_HALLOSCREAM_**

It was that time of year again: the temperature grew noticeably colder, and the nearby oak and maple trees released all of their dead, colorful leaves onto the snow-covered ground. Diego the sabre-toothed tiger breathed in the sweet, fresh scents of his favorite season: autumn. A cool, gentle breeze blew in his face, swaying the locks of fur on the sides of his head back and forth. The tiger let out a contented sigh. These smells were just wonderful- -so leafy and fresh.

Another breeze blew smoothly, sending a few orange leaves crashing softly into Diego's face. He jerked his head, and the leaves glided backwards behind him as the wind carried them up into the light blue sky. The sound of leaves crunching under his paws began to fill the sabre's ears as he began to walk, searching for a suitable place to take a peaceful afternoon nap. It wasn't long before he came upon a thin bed of leaves lying at the base of a tall, towering oak tree. He walked over and lay down with a happy groan, resting his tired head on his paws. The dead leaves below him tickled his body, somehow making him feel itchy yet comfortable at the same time. Closing his eyes, he was about to wander off into a quiet, dreamless sleep, when...

The sound of more crunching leaves and long claws scraping against the cold, hard soil woke Diego back up, but it was too late for him to do anything; a big mass of greenish-yellow and matted fur crashed into him, knocking him over on his side. He heard a girlish "Ow!" escape the animal's mouth as the tiger sat up, watching his attacker crash his head into the tree trunk. The force of the impact knocked the poor guy on his back as he landed on the ground, his head falling just inches away from Diego's paws. Diego stared at his friend in amusement, but obvious annoyance was also shown in his eyes.

"Watch where you're going, Sid!" he warned, resting his head back on his paws. The sloth stood up with a nervous chuckle and dusted himself off a few times. A pile of huge, green, heart-shaped leaves were lying scattered at the spot where Sid had tripped, and he ran over and quickly picked them up.

"Sorry, Diego," he apologized as he placed the last of his spilled leaves in his arms. "I was just getting my costume ready!"

An irritated look of caution then became etched all over the sabre's face. "What are you getting yourself into _this _time, Sid?" he asked.

The sloth shrugged. "Halloween, of course."

_Halloween. _Diego had never heard that word before. Sid said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, yet the word just couldn't ring a bell. Sid must have noticed the confused expression on his friend's face, because the next thing he said after a few moments of silence was, "Don't tell me you've never heard of Halloween before. It's like the best day of the year!"

Diego looked up at him, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

The sloth exhaled. "Oh, wow, Diego, I can't believe you've never heard of Halloween before." There was a short pause, and then the sloth continued. "Halloween is a day sometime in the fall," he explained. "At night, kids dress up as something scary and go around with sacks. They go door to door to peoples' homes, and whoever lives there gives the kids free candy." He held up his pile of leaves, showing it to Diego. "This is going to be my costume. I have to do a few things to it, but when I'm done, I'm going to be a ghost."

Diego nodded slowly. "So you're telling me," he began, "that at night while it's _dark_ out, _little kids_ go to _strangers'_ houses, not knowing if the house they're going to has a _predator_ living inside or not, and _dress up_ as something _stupid_ such as a ghost _just _to get a little bit of candy, which they could just go out and find themselves _any other_ day of the year?" he finished, emphasizing his key points. Sid stood motionless for a bit, unsure of what to say, before finally giving the sabre a small nod. Diego smirked. "That's gotta be the dumbest idea I've ever heard."

"Oh, come on, Diego," Sid said with motivation, punching the sabre lightly in the shoulder. "Get into the Halloween spirit! It can actually be a lot of fun!"

Again, Diego smirked. "Sid..." he began. The sloth stared back at him with excited eyes. "I'm an adult. _You're... _technically, an adult too. You said this Halloween thing is for little kids. I'm not doing it. You _shouldn't _be doing it."

Sid groaned at his friend's lack of fun. "Come on, Buddy! You _need _to get into the Halloween spirit!"

The sabre rolled his eyes. "And why would I _need _to get into the Halloween spirit, Sid? Hm?"

Sid stepped back a couple of feet, preparing to leave. "Well, we go trick-or-treating tomorrow night," he said, "and I still somehow need to stitch these leaves up and then cut out the eyes. But to answer your question, Manny wanted to talk to you. You'll understand then." With a swoosh of his flat, furry tail, the sloth turned around and started walking away, leaving Diego eying him suspiciously.

_I bet myself this has _something _to do with Peaches,_ he thought. With a lazy, resenting sigh, he stood up and began walking toward the mammoth, dead leaves crunching noisily under his paws.

* * *

"What?"

"Yeah, so, uh...trick-or-treating...you know, just walk Peaches around until she gets tired tomorrow night," Manny said as he stared down at Diego, who had an obviously distasteful look on his face. The mammoth guessed he hated little kid things like this.

"Come on, Diego, it'll be good for her," he added, motioning toward his daughter. The nine-month-old was happily helping Ellie put a bunch of berries, hardened tree sap, fruits, and other so-called "candies" into the giant leaf sack her parents would be using to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Peaches beamed with joy as her mother allowed her to pop a piece of tree sap into her mouth. Diego smiled in amusement at his niece as she quickly spat it back out, telling him that it might have been lemon tree flavored.

"Alright," he finally agreed. "Just walk her around, go door to door, until she gets tired?"

"Yep," Manny confirmed. He paused as he noticed resentment in Diego's eyes. "Don't worry, you don't have to dress up as something dumb for this," he quickly added. The sabre's face was replaced with a relieved expression.

"So, uh," Diego said, hoping he could _somehow _find a way out of this. Peaches was his niece, and he loved her a lot, but he would rather not walk her all around the entire village late at night "trick-or-treating"...whatever that was. He looked Manny square in the eye. "It's obvious why Sid, Crash, and Eddie can't, but why couldn't you or Ellie take her instead?" he finished. He was a bit shocked to see Manny's face turn stone-hard serious.

"Diego...this is Halloween. I've seen them before. They can get nasty. Both me _and _Ellie have to hold the fort down."

The sabre stared at him in disbelief. "You're saying it takes more than one fully-grown mammoth to hand out some candy to little kids...?" The mammoth's expression stayed the same, and he nodded.

"Yes."

Inside, Diego became grumpy. _This is going to be a looooooong Halloween._

O.o

The next day, the same thought kept ringing throughout Diego's head: _Just get it over with, just get it over with, just get it over with.  
_It was late-noon, and in just a few hours Diego would have to walk Peaches door-to-door all night collecting berries and sap. He groaned inside at the idea of something so _stupid_, especially to an adult sabre-toothed tiger, but again, that thought crept up on him. _Just get it over with._ He quietly sighed out loud.

Although _he _didn't like Halloween, it seemed as though everyone else was ecstatic about it; it wasn't even dark out yet, and already everyone was all dressed up in their costumes. He looked up from the tree trunk he was lying down beside and studied everyone's get-ups. First, he spotted Peaches in her costume, playing with some sticks on the ground. A maple leaf that was vertically cut in half and tied in the back sat perfectly on the mammoth's head, giving it the appearance of a crown, and a necklace of brightly-colored flowers and leaves were dangling gently from her neck. His best guess was that she was dressed as a princess...or something.

Next, he glanced over at Crash and Eddie, who were sword-fighting with some twigs. Each possum had a big leaf tied around their heads, and then a smaller leaf covering up one of their eyes. Expressions were being shouted out to one another as they sword-fought, such as "Argh!" and "Walk the plank, ye pile of filth!" It was obvious to Diego that they were pirates.

Lastly, Diego's gaze turned to Sid. He was taken aback as he studied the sloth's odd costume, remembering that previously Sid had said he would be a _ghost... _not whatever he was right then. Those same, giant, light green, heart-shaped leaves the sloth had been carrying the day before had their edges glued together with copious amounts of tree sap, forming a blanket, which Sid had draped over himself. He had also told the sabre that he was going to have to cut out the ghost's eyes, too... and apparently, ghosts have more than two eyes. Around sixteen oval-shaped holes, each about the size of one of Diego's paws, decorated the blanket all over. Diego snickered at either Sid's stupidity or a malfunction that occurred when he was cutting it out. Hanging down from Sid's head, the blanket of leaves floated a few inches above the ground, revealing the sloth's clawed feet. To Diego, the design didn't look realistic at all.

Much to the sabre's relief, Manny and Ellie had not dressed up as anything stupid, giving Diego some much-needed comfort that not _everyone _had gone totally insane because of this stupid holiday. Although, instead, they were hauling a big leaf-sack full of candy over to the entrance of the herd's main den. He still wasn't sure how one mammoth couldn't simply hand out candy to little kids, thinking about what Manny had told him the day before. Maybe the big guy was just being a bit over-dramatic.

Diego lay back down against the tree trunk, dreadfully awaiting Halloween night. _Just get it over with._

_How bad could it be?_

O.o

The hours flew by like minutes, and the light-blue sky gradually turned into a dark purple. Diego had been lying in that same exact spot all afternoon, yet he felt that the time he had to walk all over the village with a little mammoth in tow collecting stupid little goodies arrived all too early. With a faltering sigh, he forced himself to stand up. His leg and shoulder muscles felt like pudding after lying down for so long, but he demanded his legs to start walking over to Peaches and her overly-excited-about-a-stupid-holiday family.

After several rather uncomfortable strides, the uninterested Halloween chauffeur finally arrived at the herd's den. Everyone but Sid, Crash, and Eddie was gathered around the entrance, ready to get the night started. Peaches happily bounded up to Diego upon seeing her uncle, her leaf-crown bouncing up and down on her head as she stumbled forward.

"Uncle Diego! Uncle Diego!" she shouted excitedly, halting before she crashed into the sabre. An empty leaf-sack was grasped tightly in her trunk. "Daddy says you're taking me trick-or-treating!"

With his ears flattened against his head, Diego gave Manny a look of resentment, hoping the mammoth would just take his daughter "trick-or-treating" instead of him. Manny only nodded. Diego turned to look down at Peaches, her giant, green eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. He shrugged. "I guess I am."

Peaches joyfully hugged his front leg with her trunk, let go after a second or two, and looked back at her parents. Manny and Ellie were standing side-by-side each other in the opening of the den, both of them wearing a serious look. The giant bag of candy stood insignificantly against the den wall.

"Bye, honey! Have fun!" Ellie waved off, smiling at her daughter. Peaches smiled back restlessly. "I will! And I'm gonna get so much candy!"

"Yeah, speaking of that, Diego, don't let her eat too much before bed," Manny ordered. "You know how she gets." Diego nodded.

"Will do."

Diego and Peaches turned to leave. "Oh, and Diego," Manny called out. The sabre stopped and looked back. Peaches, appearing not to have heard her father, bounded ahead. Manny breathed out. "Be careful." Diego eyed him suspiciously, but after a few seconds, shook it off.

"Yes, Mother," he replied unenthusiastically. Everyone was making too big of a deal of this dumb holiday. He turned back around, treading ahead quickly to catch up with Peaches. "Alright, kiddo," he sighed as caught up to the toddler, walking alongside her and checking out all the houses. "Which house you wanna go to first?"

* * *

"You ready for this, Ellie?" Manny asked fiercely as he watched Peaches and Diego disappear over the hill. Ellie nervously stomped her foot.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The two mammoths were standing wearily in the middle of the entrance to the den. Trick-or-treaters were expected anytime now, and honestly, both mammoths were a little overwrought. Trick-or-treaters- -merciless, crazy, candy-driven kids- -were savage beasts who rammed you to the ground and beat you silly if you weren't smart enough to give them your goodies. When both Manny and Ellie were kids, trick-or-treaters were terrible; Ellie's mother ended up with a black eye one year (It's kind of hard to give a _mammoth _a black eye.), and Manny's aunt suffered a cut-up trunk when he was four. Back then, neither of them had to hand out candy. But this year is different.

"You think Peaches'll be okay?" Ellie asked, trying to take their minds off of their dangerous duty that night. Manny kept his eyes up ahead, hoping trick-or-treaters weren't coming.

"Yeah," he replied almost certainly. "I trust that Diego can fend off any _hooligans_."

Ellie seemed to relax, but stiffened right back up. "I wonder how Sid and the boys are doing."

* * *

A clawed hand pounded lightly on a small, wooden door. After a few knocks, Sid stepped back, aligning himself with Crash and Eddie, who were standing a foot or two away from the house. They had all decided that they'd go trick-or-treating with each other, mainly so that the irresponsible possums could keep an eye on the even less responsible sloth. Just looking at Sid's messed-up costume was enough to make them agree to let him tag along. The sixteen-eyed ghost wouldn't last the night by himself.

A gopher then opened the wooden door, a small turtle shell bowl of candy hugged tightly in his left hand.

"Trick-or-treat!" the three trick-or-treaters all said at once, each holding out their leaf-sacks eagerly. The gopher glared at the costumes. The two possums were dressed as pirates, and the other's costume was incomprehensible. Sabre paw-sized holes were covering the big leaf-blanket draped over the guy's head, making the gopher shake _his _head tiredly. He stepped out of the doorway, and arrived a moment later with something grey grasped in his hand.

"Happy Halloween," he mumbled, obviously showing he couldn't care less about this holiday. He threw a piece of candy into Crash's sack, and then another piece into Eddie's, and then tossed the grey thing in Sid's. The gopher grumpily shut the door behind him.

"Whatcha get, Crash?" Eddie asked, peering into his own sack excitedly. Crash dove into his bag, and pulled out a grape. "I gotta grape!"

Eddie reached in his sack and pulled out some dried tree sap. "I got some sap!"

Sid eagerly pulled out his prize, and held it out in front of him, sighing grouchily after realizing what it was. "I got a rock."

The two possums chuckled. "Let's move on to the next house. You'll get some candy there," Eddie said, he and Crash beginning to walk off. Sid shook off his grudge, and happily followed.

The next house the trio visited was an open burrow under an old tree trunk.

"Trick-or-treat!" they shouted once they arrived. A skunk stepped outside with a few ripe raspberries clutched gently in her hand.

"Here ya go, kids!" she said joyously, tossing a red raspberry first into Crash's sack, then a black one into Eddie's, then lastly a greyish-looking one into Sid's. "Have fun!" the skunk called out before scampering back into her burrow, readying herself for more trick-or-treaters.

"I gotta black raspberry!" Eddie said, peering into his sack.

"I gotta red one!" Crash exclaimed.

Sid pulled his out, and frowned. "I got a rock."

Their next house was a hollow log.

"Trick-or-treat!" they all chorused as a porcupine stepped out. The porcupine stared at Sid's costume for a second, then handed out his candy.

"Enjoy!" he said to the two possums. To Sid, he just tossed the piece of candy into his sack, then retreated back into his log.

"I got another raspberry!" Crash said.

"I got two blueberries!" Eddie exclaimed happily, popping one in his mouth.

Sid reached into his sack. _Surely I can't get three rocks in a row, _he thought. He pulled his piece of candy out, and let his shoulders slump. "I got a rock."

* * *

Peaches and Diego walked up to a tall oak tree. Peaches knocked on the bark with her trunk excitedly, stepping back a couple of inches after doing so. This was Peaches', as well as Diego's, first house ever visited for Halloween, and the young toddler was itching to say her first three Halloween words. An owl swiftly swooped down to the ground, landing right in front of the sabre and mammoth. An apple was clutched tightly in her talons, and she smiled kindly at Peaches, waiting to hear the words.

Diego nudged his niece gently with his paw. "Oh," Peaches said, holding out her leaf-sack. "Trick-or-treat!"

"Good girl," the owl said, dropping the apple in the mammoth's sack. Peaches looked down at it happily, not saying a word. Diego shook his head.

"Thanks," he said simply.

The owl tilted her head at the sabre. "Say, you wouldn't want any fruit too, would ya?" she asked jokingly.

"Uh... no thanks, I had a watermelon this morning," the carnivore replied. Just then, some more trick-or-treaters walked up to the tree, and the owl quickly flew to the canopy to bring down more candy.

Diego sidestepped out of the kids' way. "Alright Peaches, let's go."

Peaches looked up at the tiger, cooing with joy, and then happily turned around and bounded off to the next house. As he watched Peaches run off in front of him, he couldn't help but crack a smile at the sheer delight the mammoth got after receiving a simple piece of fruit.

* * *

Over the hill, kids in costumes appeared. "Trick-or-treaters at two'o'clock!" Manny yelled in calm panic. Gasping, Ellie followed her husband's gaze, and her eyes grew wide as she watched the trick-or-treaters come closer and closer. Some were dressed as fairies, others other animals, and some, mummies. But to the two mammoths, they were all the same: bloodthirsty killing machines that were candy-obsessed. Quickly, Ellie stepped to the side of the cave and grabbed the large sack of candy with her muscular trunk. The kids came closer.

"Ellie! Is the candy ready?" Manny half-yelled as the mob of kids walked on. Happy grins were on the kids' faces, but he and his mate knew that they both were in trouble. Ellie grunted as she reeled the sack out from inside the den.

"Ready!" she announced.

The kids finally arrived at the mammoths' residence. They all stopped short about three feet from the den, excited expressions written all over each and every one of their faces. They all looked up at the two mammoths. "Trick-or-treat!" they all chimed.

Ellie reached her trunk in the sack, and hauled out a trunkful of candy. "H-Here ya go, kids!" she said nervously, placing the trunkful in a small beaver's bag. Reaching back into the bag nine more times, she gave the nine other trick-or-treaters their candy.

"Thanks!" most of them said gleefully as the candy was dumped in their sacks. However, one of them wasn't satisfied.

"I want more," said a glyptodon boy. Manny and Ellie's stomachs both flipped, fearing the whole gang would turn into an angry mob. They knew just one little slip-up could spell out disaster. Manny quickly grabbed another trunkful of candy, and handed it to the glyptodon.

"Here you go! Happy Halloween!" he said, trying his best to sound cheerful. The glyptodon looked in his bag happily, while the rest of the kids' expressions turned angry.

"Hey, how come _he _gets two trunkfuls?" a bear cub asked aggressively.

A young rhino-like animal stepped up. "I want two trunkfuls!"

"Me too!" an antelope demanded.

"Yeah! Fork it over!" another pitched in. Soon, all the kids were shouting, about to pummel Manny and Ellie to the ground. With quick thinking, Ellie hurriedly dove her trunk into the candy sack and handed the nine other kids their un-rightfully deserved candy. With pleading stares, she and her husband watched the kids, hoping they'd be satisfied and not turn them into throw rugs. Earning a sigh of relief from both mammoths, the kids smiled greedily, happy with the amount of candy they had received. After a few "Thank you"s, the gang of trick-or-treaters turned around and excitedly walked off, searching for their next victims. Manny and Ellie sighed again as they watched them go.

"Whew," gasped Manny. "That was a close one."

"Yeah," agreed Ellie. "Hopefully the rest of the night will go smoothly."

Although, both of them highly doubted _that. _Another round of trick-or-treaters was already on its way, proceeding down the hill toward the den. Manny and Ellie were both thinking the same thought: _Oh no. _

* * *

"Thank you!" Peaches said politely as a mother pig-like animal handed her a small bunch of blueberries. As more trick-or-treaters came flooding in around them, she and Diego then turned around to leave to go to the next house. They had only been to seven houses so far, and already, Peaches' sack was almost half-full. By the way she held her sack of candy high in the air with her trunk and the way she was strutting along, it was obvious to Diego, not to mention anyone else who happened to see the mammoth stroll by, that the toddler was highly proud of her first pieces of Halloween candy. Diego sighed. He just wanted Peaches to get tired so they could both go home and go to sleep.

Then, Peaches started humming proudly. Energetic as ever. Diego knew that wasn't happening anytime soon.

The duo continued walking, searching for another house. All seven houses on their left they had already hit, and neither of them could spot any on their right. Well, Diego couldn't; Peaches was closing her eyes as she marched along, still humming triumphantly. Diego sighed sleepily, and looked up at the starry night. It was completely dark at that point, and the sky was tinted with a beautiful navy-blue. The yellow-white stars stuck in the infinite blue background were sparkling brightly, making the whole scene all the more amazing. The scent of dead leaves and a cool wind washed over Diego, making him realize that at least Halloween was good for getting in some nice, relaxing walking.

A contented happiness consumed the sabre as he closed his eyes, leaves crunching loudly under his giant, furred paws and the freshness of the environment making him love the season of autumn even more; it was all very soothing. He remembered when he was a cub, taking long walks along a quiet dirt trail or a meadow sprinkled with dead leaves in autumn, enjoying all the fresh scents and the plentiful cool breezes. A small hint of a smile lit up on Diego's usually stoic face.

Suddenly, he heard Peaches let out a sharp, pained yelp, followed by the sound of her falling to the dusty ground. His eyes snapped wide open, and he turned to see Peaches was, indeed, lying sprawled out in the dirt. Two teenage mammoths stood before her, towering over the frightened toddler. Diego guessed that Peaches had run into them by accident.

"Sorry about that," the tiger said, briskly walking over to Peaches and helping her up. One of the mammoths, the darker-colored one, looked angrily into his sack of candy. Peaches had walked into _that, _and had accidentally squished some of his berries.

"Ruined," he spat, reaching into his bag with his trunk and dropping the squashed berries to the ground. His comrade, the lighter-colored mammoth, scowled at the two strangers, even if one was a sabre-tooth. Neither of them were scared, but rather angry. It was hard to find animals giving out ripe berries this time of year, and the ruined berries used to be perfect. Diego could sense these teens wanted trouble; he gently guided Peaches around them with his paw, and they then quickly walked off, Peaches' candy sack bouncing up and down in the air as she did so. The two infuriated mammoths watched them as they disappeared into the distance.

O.o

Diego ignored their little run-in, thinking nothing of it. An accident. Whatever.

Finally, after fast-walking for a few minutes, they both could plainly see a village, straight ahead. Many trick-or-treaters were going about their business there, hitting all the houses in sight. With a yelp of glee, and with Diego following closely behind, Peaches raced ahead, waiting to fill her sack to the very top with candy. And especially ripe berries. Those were the best.

The first house she and her uncle hit was a small den. A badger gave her a bunch of red raspberries, perfectly ripe. This was the best Halloween ever; even Diego didn't mind it that much anymore. It wasn't as stupid as he had originally thought. He thought it was nice to be out at night in the season of fall, and he had already planned out a relaxing rest of the evening: walk Peaches around collecting candy until she gets tired, walk back to the den, and then _finally _get some nice, peaceful sleep. Sounded pleasantly simple enough.

* * *

Sid knocked on the wooden door. He stepped back with Crash and Eddie, a frown on his face. A squirrel came out a few seconds later, clutching a handful of candy. "Happy Halloween!" he said, tossing the candy in each of their sacks. Sid awaited for the familiar _click _of a new rock hitting his hundreds of rocks already in his bag. Surely enough, he heard it, and turned around without even looking in his sack after the squirrel disappeared back inside his home.

"I got two grapes!" he heard Crash exclaim.

"I got three blueberries!" said Eddie. Sid didn't even bother to say what he got. They all already knew. The possums ran ahead to catch up with him, ready to go to the next house. Sid's hunched-over back was beginning to ache; his bag of "candy" was really starting to get heavy, considering all he ever got that night were rocks.

_Stupid costume, _he thought. _Next year I'm not folding it when I cut the eyes out._

Sid stopped, suddenly too tired to go on. "You guys go on ahead," he called out to Crash and Eddie. "I'm gonna call it a night."

The possums looked back, shrugged, and continued running to the next house without a care. Sid heaved his sack over his shoulder, resting it on his pained back, and turned around, starting to walk home. He had been to houses too many to count- -_too many to count!_- -and all he ever got that night were rocks. Rocks! It was ridiculous. Halloween stunk.

At least Lord of the Flames could make a comfortable fire that night.

* * *

Another group of trick-or-treaters walked up to Manny and Ellie, each wanting the same exact thing: candy. And lots of it.

"Trick-or-treat!" a few of them said, holding out their sacks. Manny quickly pulled a trunkful of candy out with his trunk and placed it in the closest bag.

_One down._

He gave another trunkful to the next kid, who was a big, flightless bird dressed up as a zombie. Red, blue, black, and purple berry juices were squirted all over his body, giving him a dead appearance. Manny gulped, fearing he might end up looking like that by the end of the night. He dropped the candy in the zombie's bag.

_Two down._

He continued to hand out candy to all the other trick-or-treaters in the group, excited by the fact that after they had received their candy they wore happy, pleased faces instead of angry, savage ones.

_Three down. Four down. Five down. Six down._

There was just one kid left: an anteater wrapped up in leaves, supposing to be a mummy. He was holding out his candy sack impatiently, standing there with a bored and unamused look on his face. His eyelids were half-closed, waiting for his share.

"Of course," Manny said anxiously. He dove his trunk into the sack...and felt nothing. His heart leaped clear out of his stomach as the anteater cleared his throat unhappily, his facial expression becoming more and more savage by the second. Manny searched the sack blindly, waiting to feel anything with his trunk. Ellie must have became a bit scared as well by the anteater's looks, as she too searched the bag. She dove her trunk straight down toward the bottom, and could just feel the shapes of berries and pieces of tree sap. Grabbing them quickly, she hauled them out of the bag and quickly dumped them in the anteater's waiting sack of leaves. Manny lifted his trunk out of their sack and stood next to Ellie, both mammoths smiling down on the anteater innocently.

Raising an eyebrow, the anteater finally mumbled a weak "Thank you," and turned around to catch up with the rest of the group of trick-or-treaters. At the same time, Manny and Ellie sighed with relief at their narrow escape, but then uttered a loud gasp as they realized that they had run out of candy. Many, many trick-or-treaters had come to _them _that night_, _and the mammoths were so worried about an angry mob forming because a kid or two didn't get as much candy as they wanted that they had accidentally given out _way _too much to each kid; Ellie was positive that that giant sack would last the whole night, but apparently not.

A hard realization hit both Manny and Ellie: no candy equals doom for the world. Or, at least, death for both of them caused by a bunch of candy-high savage beasts.

"Manny, what do we do now?" Ellie asked nervously. Manny's brave, solid face turned frightened.

"I don't know."

Another group of trick-or-treaters came within eyesight, heading straight for the mammoths' den, and fatally catching the terrified pachyderms unprepared.

* * *

"Tired yet, Peaches?" Diego asked, hoping she'd say, "Yes! I'm extremely tired! Let's go back home and sleep for fourteen hours straight!" However, he already knew his enthusiastic niece's answer.

"Nope!" she stated as-a-matter-of-factly. She was proudly carrying her almost-full candy sack in her trunk, walking happily alongside Diego. The glimmer in her eyes showed total excitement, and so the tiger just shrugged impatiently, deciding to just play along with it for the rest of the night, or maybe for the next couple of years. However long it took Peaches to tire from all this trick-or-treating.

They had been out for a few hours now, and Diego was unpleasantly surprised with how much energy the toddler actually had; whenever they migrated and she was forced to walk, she'd always act all tired within fifteen minutes of heading out, kind of like Sid; but now, metaphorically speaking, Peaches had the energy of a two-year-old. Diego wondered how a _toddler _could keep this up, as he was beginning to become exhausted himself. Did she really love Halloween candy this much to voluntarily walk all over villages at night, knocking on every single door she saw for hours on end? Apparently so.

After hitting one more house, Diego came to the conclusion that they had hit every single house in that village. However, if he remembered correctly, there was another village up north; he led Peaches in that direction, and the mammoth kept looking all around as they traveled forward, waiting for more houses to come into view. Diego rolled his eyes; she had enough candy already. He bet himself that at the end of a few days- -when Peaches' candy will be all eaten up- -she'd be bouncing off the cave walls for weeks. Oh, joy. Like he didn't have enough of that with Crash and Eddie. And Sid, when he thought a female sloth was into him. (Which they weren't.)

Gradually, as the tiger and mammoth trudged on, trees became more and more plentiful. Peaches looked at the trees with scared eyes, thinking that the bare branches looked like claws reaching out to get her. She whimpered quietly, and scooted closer to Diego. He, a feline, had night vision, and could see perfectly. Even though everything to him now looked green, he still thought that the autumn trees looked quite nice- -the total opposite of Peaches' impression.

The two said nothing as they walked through the dark, breezy forest, and the only sound that could be heard was the loud crunching of dead leaves shattering under their feet.

O.o

The sound of screeching bats suddenly filled the sky as a colony flapped audibly overhead. Peaches jumped clear out of her skin at the sudden bloodcurdling screams, and moved ever so closer to her fearless uncle as they continued to walk through the barren forest. She honestly was terrified almost to the point of turning around and going home, but the thought of more candy pushed her forward. Hoping they were almost to the village, Peaches held her head up high, trying to be brave. For some reason, doing that kind of helped.

All of a sudden, a strong, freezing wind blew straight into the two mammals, chilling them both to the bone. Peaches let out a quick, vigorous shiver, and Diego wondered why it wasn't snowing yet. However, he held onto his solid build and wouldn't allow himself to even let out the faintest of a twitch because of the bitter cold. He didn't know, maybe it was a pride thing. The sound of faint tooth-chattering suddenly filled the sabre's ears, and he looked down at Peaches, whose mouth was jittering quickly up and down. Diego let out a small smirk.

"Ready to go home _now?_" He asked. He was a bit surprised when he heard Peaches say a hesitant "no," but at the same time, he was kind of expecting that. He knew Peaches wouldn't agree to head back to the den until her candy-sack was filled to the very top. _Kids and their candy... _he thought.

There was another extended silence. Both Peaches and Diego lost all sense of time as they traveled on, feeling as if a minute were only a second. Diego was consumed by the peace and tranquility that came with walking through a forest...Peaches, the thought of eating her whole sack of candy as soon as she got home. They never even noticed the sound of more crunching leaves or a strange new scent waft into the area.

* * *

The kids came closer.

With scared eyes, Manny and Ellie watched them approach their den.

Smiles on each and every one of their faces, the kids bragged about all of their candy collected so far that night.

Manny and Ellie both gulped, almost exactly at the same time.

Candy sacks almost full, the proceeding trick-or-treaters got them ready to take in some more candy.

But the mammoths were out of candy...and time.

And yet the kids came closer.

Manny and Ellie huddled against each other, attempting to comfort themselves.

The kids were almost there.

The huddling wasn't working.

A few more steps...

The two terrified mammoths braced themselves for an attack.

And finally the trick-or-treaters arrived, stopping short of the mammoths' den by only a couple of feet. About twenty different kids dressed up in twenty different costumes held up their candy sacks in jaws, beaks, trunks, claws, and paws.

"Trick-or-treat!" they all said casually. Worriedly, Manny and Ellie glanced at each other, not sure of what to do. Panic set in both of their minds, and little beads of nervous sweat started to trickle down Ellie's frightened face. She knew Manny wouldn't let anything touch her- -heck, he overreacted if a little spider accidentally landed on her tusk- -but still, the thought of her mother and the black eye she had gotten wouldn't let the worry leave. She knew it was just a black eye...but who's to say something worse won't happen to _her?_...Or Manny?

The kids still were staring up at the two mammoths, impatiently waiting for their treats, candy sacks still held out. Inside, Manny finally built up enough courage to break the news to them. He cleared his throat.

"Um...Kids...W-We, actually...don't have any...candy..." he said slowly, carefully picking the words out. The kids' smiles vanished. Frowns appeared. Eyebrows curving, expressions turned angry. Candy sacks slowly lowered, yet the cold glares remained. Manny gritted his teeth as he and his wife stood there, nerveracking-ly waiting for whatever was coming their way.

_"What?" _a young beaver exclaimed, warning them that they had better give everyone their candy immediately. Ellie calmly took a step forward.

"I'm sorry, kids," she began, "but we gave out all our candy already, and we don't- -"

Screams of frustrated disagreement rang out throughout the crowd of trick-or-treaters, causing Ellie to fearfully leap back beside Manny. He wrapped his trunk around her protectively, knowing these blood-thirsty kids were about to strike.

Candy sacks were gently thrown aside, and each and every monster- -mummies, ghosts, ghouls, zombies...even a Bloody Beary- -prepared to fight. No candy, no peace. As the kids began to slowly stalk toward the two unprepared candy-giver-outers, Manny spun Ellie around, forcing her to face him. He looked her square in the eye.

"Ellie...we have to fight," he said calmly. Ellie stubbornly shook her head. They may be about to die, but there was no way she was ever going to hurt another living being, especially a child.

"No, we are not fighting these young kids! We're just going to have to get through it until they leave," she announced. Now, Ellie may be stubborn...but so was Manny.

"We are fighting them. There's no way we'll survive the night if we don't!"

"Manny, they're kids! We're mammoths! Now, who do you think would win?"

"But we _want _to win!"

"No we don't! They'll get hurt!"

"But we'll get hurt, too!"

"We're not fighting them, and that's final!" Ellie yelled. The group of trick-or-treaters had stopped dead in their tracks as they amusingly watched the mammoth-couple argue, putting their little raid aside...for now. Manny was about to protest, when he realized that whenever Ellie yelled at him in that way, whatever she said was set in stone. The kids were lucky Manny wasn't as stubborn as Ellie was.

"Ugh," Manny said, sighing in defeat, "fine, we won't fight them."

Ellie nodded her head. "That's right."

The two mammoths looked back at the trick-or-treaters. An awkward silence overtook everyone: Manny, Ellie, and even the angry kids. No one was quite sure about what to do at that moment; they were all staring at each other gawkily.

"Um...get them?" one of the kids suggested after a while. A few others nodded, and said a few weak "yeah"s, and "let's do it"s. The majority of the group of kids shrugged ineptly.

"CHARGE!"

Like a pack of hungry dogs, the trick-or-treaters launched themselves at the two mammoths, quickly drowning them in a flood of angry, devilish, candy-high kids. Neither of the pachyderms fought back.

* * *

"Okay, which way's home?" Sid asked himself as he walked away from the village where he departed from Crash and Eddie. The sack of rocks slung over his back was really starting to make his spine and muscles uncomfortable, and he wanted to get back to the den and set the sack of heavy stones down ASAP. He wondered if Ellie could maybe give him a nice, relaxing massage once he got home; or maybe he could find a warm, misty spring where he could contentedly unwind in; or maybe come home to find a giant pile of fresh strawberries and a big stack of spruce tree leaves waiting just for him in the middle of the den...Yeah...

But that was wishful thinking. That wouldn't happen. He had wished that he could get some ripe, juicy berries, or maybe some dried sap that day, but even on Halloween night, he wasn't able to get a single piece of candy. He sighed out loud, thinking about the unfairness of it all, and tried to center his mind about finding his way home. "Okay, okay, okay," he told himself, trying to focus. He looked around, trying to remember which way he had come to get to the village; however, because of his horrible memory, nothing came to him. "Aw, great," he blurted out sarcastically. "First the costume, then the rocks, and now I can't even find my way home!" Frustrated, he kicked what looked like a small pile of leaves in the dark. His clawed foot, however, hit something hard. The sloth immediately dropped his "candy" sack, and clutched his toes in pain. Sid glared at the object angrily, and finally realized what it was.

"Stupid rock!" he mumbled. "What'dya do that for? That really hurt! You know, I'm having a bad day, and I really need a massage but I know it won't happen, and you're not- -"

He stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed a mother anteater and her child staring at the sloth oddly, watching perplexed as he yelled at the inanimate object. Sid glared back at them, and smiled and waved at the two animals nervously. The mother anteater slowly pushed her child along, both of them not taking their eyes off of the weird stranger. Finally, the kid got scared and ran off, yelling. His mother followed him, doing the same thing. Sid sighed and pointed at the rock accusingly, even though he could barely see it because of the dim light.

"You know, you're making a real fool outta me," he said. He then faintly saw the outline of something fuzzy against the rock, and he kneeled down, looking at it harder. Squinting at it, he smiled. "Moss!" he exclaimed. He could make out that the right side of the rock was all grey and bare, while the left side was covered in woolly, green moss. "Moss always points toward civilization!" Sid continued, faintly remembering a long-ago survival class. "So that means..." After audibly putting two-and-two together, the sloth came to the conclusion that the moss pointed towards home. He picked up his sack full of rocks and heaved it over his back once again. Looking ahead in the direction that the moss was pointing, his determined smile fell to a discouraged frown. In front of him lay a think, dense, bare-treed forest; however, he managed to shake the look of fear from his face.

"For the massage!" he shouted fiercely, attempting to motivate himself. He charged full-throttle into the forest; he then quickly tired because of his bag of rocks, and began to walk slowly back home. Or, at least that's what he wished for.

* * *

Diego sniffed the air as he and Peaches walked on through the forest. He could have sworn that he smelled something odd; it was sort of a musky scent mixed with the fragrance of chewed up leaves, hinted with a small touch of fruity breath. This scent was highly distinguishable from the woody, fresh smells of the forest, and the sabre suddenly realized that he knew this specific odor all too well: mammoth. He immediately thought back earlier to whenever Peaches had bumped into those two teenage mammoths and squished some of their berries; he knew it was possible that it was those two same mammoths, but being his care-free and fearless self, thought nothing of it. Just pass them by casually.

"Uncle Diego, are we almost there?" Peaches asked suddenly. At the exact same time his niece had finished asking her question, Diego could faintly hear leaves crunching from up ahead. Leaving Peaches' query unanswered, he stopped walking, straining his ears forward to pick up the sound as best as possible. Raising an eyebrow, Peaches stopped as well. "Uncle Diego?" she asked, wanting an exclamation to her uncle's weird behavior. Because she was a mammoth, which had hearing that wasn't even close to the superior hearing abilities of a sabre, she wasn't able to pick up the sound of the leaves crunching just yet; Diego ignored her, and squinted in the dim light, expectantly waiting for two, giant, furry, mean, mammoth-shaped figures to come into view. Peaches sighed; they were never going to get to that village.

For Diego, the sound kept getting louder and louder, and after a few moments, for Peaches, the faint sound of the shattering leaves had only just begun. Now it was her turn to strain her ears forward and try to hear the noise as best as possible. It wasn't much at first, but soon, she could hear it very clearly. Whatever it was that was out there...it was getting closer. Peaches began to worry.

"Come on, Peach," Diego said suddenly after a few seconds. "I'm sure it's just other trick-or...whaters."

The young mammoth looked up at her uncle oddly, momentarily distracted from their scary situation. "You mean...trick-or-_treaters?" s_he mended.

Diego's ears grew hot at the thought of being a full-grown adult sabre-toothed tiger and having to be corrected by a little toddler. But hey, it wasn't exactly his field of expertise. "Er...yeah, trick-or-treaters."

"How can you not know that word by now?" Peaches asked, a smirk on her face. Diego began to think for a minute. By that point, neither one of them had noticed that the sound of crunching leaves was getting louder.

"Well, it isn't exactly a word," Diego replied hesitantly after a while, "more of a term- -"

Peaches rolled her eyes. "Well, fine, then...How can you not know that _term _by now?"

"Never really sunk in, I guess," Diego said quickly. "Now come on, we have to hit all the other houses before the other trick-or-whaters do."

Peaches giggled. "Trick-or-_treaters!" _

"Hey, you think we should _treat-hers _to some candy, or _treat-hers _to some revenge?" taunted an odd, cold, bellicose voice. Diego and Peaches immediately looked forward- -the direction of which the voice came from. Up ahead were those two teenage mammoths, slowly approaching the duo. "That was good, right, Brutus?" the lighter colored mammoth- -the one who had just spoken- -asked. Brutus, the darker-colored mammoth walking next to him, teetered his head back and forth, as if pondering what to say.

"Eh...," he said finally. His voice was a lot deeper, colder, and harder than his friend's; it instantly reminded Diego of the deep voice Manny had when they had first met. "We'll work on it," Brutus finished.

Peaches cowered behind her uncle as Diego focused on the "threat" they were given. "What do you mean, '_treat-hers _her to some revenge?'" he asked, his voice equally cold. His eyes narrowed, his muscles tensed, and he bared his teeth slightly, ready to fight.

The two mammoths stopped walking when they were about ten feet in front of Diego and Peaches. Brutus, however, took a step forward to point an accusing trunk at the young toddler. "That little punk," he spat, his voice suddenly filling with malice, "squished most of my good candy! You know how often Halloween comes every year?"

Despite all the obvious threat and hate thrust toward him and Peaches, Diego kept a cool head and stepped forward as well. "Once, and that's plenty," he replied smoothly. "You'll live."

Brutus leaned his head in real close: close enough so that Diego could feel his offender's aggravated breaths blow into his face. The mammoth lowered his eyebrows, squinting his eyes so much that they looked as if they weren't even there. Both Diego and Peaches swore they could see the anger radiating off of him. While he stared Diego dead in the eye, Brutus emitted a loud growling noise from the back of his throat and stomped his front foot on the ground. Hard. It was then that Diego realized that less than two feet in front of him was this almost-fully-grown and violent mammoth that seriously wanted to murder him and his niece...over pieces of candy. What made the situation even scarier was that it was late at night on Halloween, they were in the middle of a barren, desolated forest, and the dark-blue sky was littered with ghostly-white clouds while children in the distance screamed bloody murder. All Diego could think of to do at the moment was stare back at his opponent and snarl.

"Look," Brutus stated threateningly, squinting his eyes even further, "you either give us your candy," - -he motioned towards Peaches' sack with his trunk- -"or your head comes off. Capisce?" Diego averted his strong gaze with Brutus and looked over at Rocko, who was staring holes into the cat from the sidelines. The lighter-colored mammoth flared his ears and swished his bushy tail back and forth angrily upon noticing the tiger's staring. Diego's irritated glare turned back to Brutus.

"We're not looking for trouble," Diego eventually asserted. "So we accidentally ruined a few berries, big deal. Go get some more and leave us alone." He snorted to prove his point.

Brutus was frighteningly silent for a few moments; his eyes hardened and Diego could see him clenching his teeth. "That was _NOT_ the answer I was looking for," he barked roughly. The mammoth slowly turned around, Diego and Peaches' stares now fixated on his back. He turned his head a little bit, so his face was slightly visible. For some odd reason, he was wearing a small smile behind that large, furry trunk.

"You know," he began, his voice cutting through the air like a knife, "I ran into this other sabre not that long ago. Big guy, very muscular. His fangs were the sharpest teeth I've ever seen. His ten front claws could easily cut the head offa' anyone. The day I first saw him, he had done somethin' that I didn't like...made me mad. Know what I did to 'im? I swung my left tusk into his side, just like that." Brutus had completely turned around, and was staring at Diego full-on. He could tell the mammoth was frustrated. "Left a huge wound in his side, and he was killed on impact. Blood spurted out everywhere. Some of the animals nearby even fainted." Peaches whimpered, and cowered behind Diego for protection. Brutus began to walk closer. And closer. "And you know what I did next?" Brutus questioned, chuckling to himself evilly. "I kicked 'im and stomped on 'im 'till blood was comin' out of his nose and his eyes and his ears and his mouth. Cracked every bone in his pathetic little body. Was like a giant blood bath." Rocko snickered, and Brutus advanced even closer towards Diego and Peaches. Peaches was trembling on the ground, and Diego was pondering whether to fight or flee. Brutus' face was only a foot or two away from Diego's. "What'ya think of that..._cat_," he hissed.

Diego's mouth hung open, but whether it was from rage, disgust, horror, or terror he wasn't sure. Maybe it was because he had absolutely no idea what to do next. He blinked stupidly. "I think you're a nutjob. Now just let us- -"

"ARGH!" Brutus roared suddenly, shaking the trees around them and causing a small earthquake. He closed his eyes and pressed his trunk onto his forehead, letting out slow, deep breaths. _"Look," _he somewhat boomed, startling everyone, "you gonna give us the candy or not, _pal_?"

As Diego soaked in his every word, he realized that this mammoth wasn't kidding around. The way he had emphasized "pal" cautioned the sabre that he was quickly losing his Mr. Nice Guy façade...assuming that the character of the mammoth he had already witnessed was in fact Mr. Nice Guy. A chill ran down his spine. Getting on this guy's nerves was the last thing he wanted to do that night, since he knew how powerful aggravated mammoths can be. He was tempted to just hand over the candy- -avoid physical injury and just get out the easy way; but, at the same time, he forced himself to withdraw from that plan. He knew how hard he had worked that night, and he didn't want all that labor to go to waste; also, Peaches really seemed to want that candy. After all, she had earned it. He wasn't about to let two idiots mess up her first Halloween. Despite a small twinge of fear he had floating around inside himself, Diego narrowed his eyes and stared at Brutus. The mammoth stared back, awaiting an answer.

"No, we're not," he replied aggressively. _"We..._are going home. Come on, Peach." He finally broke eye-contact with Brutus and slightly turned around, leading Peaches in the opposite direction. Still trembling, the toddler followed him without a word.

"IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME THAT CANDY, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Brutus' sudden outburst caused Diego, Peaches, and even Rocko to jolt with fright. The terrorizing exclamation echoed throughout the sky, and a few alarmed birds flew away with a flurry of loud shrieks. The moon glistened brightly behind a layer of clouds in the distance.

O.o

_Okay, _Diego thought to himself, _maybe this is starting to turn into a problem._ And truly, it was. He was actually kind of frightened, and that thought went on to frighten him even more. Peaches was cowering with fear, and Diego found himself feeling that the role of her brave uncle was becoming difficult to play. There's no way they could escape from a charging mammoth; they'd be doomed. Brutus really wanted to kill them, and if he was forced to, he'd have no problem doing it. Really, the only way out of this that Diego saw was to just give in. Brutus stared at him with dark, angry, and even psychopathic eyes. Diego gulped, and turned to Peaches.

"Give me your candy," he ordered softly, keeping an eye on Brutus. Peaches blinked at him, as if she was bewildered._ Are you serious? _she thought, gawking at the sabre. Slowly, Peaches stood up; her legs were no longer shaking.

"No," she mumbled.

"Peach, we have to! If we don't, they're gonna hurt us," Diego persuaded. "I'll get you some more candy, okay?"

"I said No!" the toddler stated loudly, taking her uncle aback. She walked passed him and over to Brutus, leaving the sabre with his mouth hung open in astonishment. As Brutus watched the determined little mammoth stomp over to him, his facial expression became unreadable. Was he angry? Surprised? Frustrated?...Amused? Diego couldn't tell.

Standing in front of Brutus, staring at him in the eye, Peaches held up her sack of candy. "I'm not giving you this!" she declared, flaring her ears. Brutus was silent. Diego was utterly stupefied.

Peaches continued. "I earned all this! It's mine! And you're not getting it! We walked all over the place for this, and I'm not about to give it to a couple of stupid bullies! If you're so bratty that you can't even get some more candy yourselves, then I don't care; but get it through your thick skulls that I'm not going to give either of you idiots any of _my _candy! So just go home and cry about it to your mommies, you good-for-nothing jerks!" And with that, Peaches took out a berry from her sack and ate it angrily. Diego smiled; he couldn't have possibly been more proud.

However, Brutus wasn't finding it very admirable. He growled, causing Peaches to back up a little in shock. Diego's smile faded as Brutus stomped forward, making Peaches back up even more. Then, out of nowhere, Brutus launched his trunk at Peaches' sack and clutched it right out of her grasp.

"Hey!" Peaches exclaimed. Brutus ignored her, and tossed the candy on the ground a little ways off to the side.

"You could've just handed it over nice and easy," he growled, staring at the toddler. Peaches quickly became petrified, and Diego looked on in concern. The larger mammoth stomped on the ground with his front foot a few times, whipping his head from side to side. He snorted and growled loudly, and before everyone knew it, Brutus had started charging. Peaches let out a blood-curdling scream.

* * *

Sid the sloth kicked a cluster of leaves in his path, sending them all flying in the air. He had been walking through this stupid forest _forever _and he _still _wasn't home! He was trudging along slowly, his giant sack of rocks severely weighing him down. His poor back and legs were in agony. He didn't know why he didn't just abandon his new collection of rocks and save himself the trouble of having to haul it for the rest of his trip; maybe it was because he wanted to show his herd how much disrespect he had thrown at him that night. Maybe they would show him some sympathy or something and give him some fruits or a massage. Sid smiled sadly. _Yeah, that would be nice, _he thought._ Too bad _that's _never going to happen._

Then suddenly, in the stillness of the night, Sid heard this weird sound in the distance. He stopped. He could hear leaves crunching and the loud thuds of giant footsteps. They sounded like the gallop of a horse...a horse that weighed ten thousand pounds. The sloth realized he could feel the ground shaking, and for a moment, he was worried there was this huge, terrible beast about to run into him and crush him. He waved that hypothesis off quickly, and pondered on what it could _really _be.

He didn't have long to think, however; his train of thought was abruptly ended by the high-pitched shriek of what sounded like a little girl. _Wait a minute, _Sid thought. _What if a little girl's_ _about to get pummeled by this monster? _Another shriek sounded, and Sid had made up his mind. "I'll save you!" he announced loudly, beginning to run in the direction of the anonymous thudding noise. The rocks in his sack cracked and clinked together furiously as he ran.

* * *

"Peaches!" Diego gasped loudly, watching in horror as the nine-ton mammoth charged at his niece. Peaches' eyes were the size of dinner plates, and her entire body trembled fiercely with fear and trepidation. The intense thudding of Brutus' heavy feet pounded at Peaches' ears, causing the younger mammoth to shake even harder.

Diego's heart was pounding so ruthlessly it was rocking his body back and forth with every beat. Millions upon millions of different thoughts all popped up in the sabre's head all at once, and for Diego, it became hard to endure. He looked at Peaches, and then at the fast-approaching Brutus. His niece was about to get plowed over, and likely killed._ Come on, 'fraidy-cat, _Diego thought to himself harshly. _Are you a man or a_ _mouse?_

Diego growled the loudest growl he could muster. His throat hurt afterwards, but he didn't care. His paws suddenly didn't seem glued to the ground anymore, and before he even knew what he was doing, he was barreling forward in Brutus' direction. It was almost like an instinct.

Peaches was in the middle of Diego and Brutus. Diego knew that if he didn't reach Peaches first and push her out of the way, she'd be roadkill. His pace quickened even more, making the sabre feel as if he were flying through the air like a bullet.

Brutus was almost upon Peaches; one more second and the younger mammoth would be killed.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, girlish cry bellowed loudly, causing everyone to come to a screeching halt. It was clear that it wasn't Peaches who had screamed. Diego almost tripped over himself, and much to his and Peaches' relief, Brutus had come to an abrupt halt as well. While Brutus was distracted, trying to find who in the world had emitted such a powerful blare, the frightened toddler, who was practically hyperventilating, scrambled away from the larger mammoth and over to the safety of her uncle.

"What the heck was that?" Brutus routed angrily, his eyes fiercely searching for the culprit. Some nearby bushes began to rattle, and out came a yellow, flea-infested sloth. A sack was hung harshly over his shoulder.

"_Sid?_" Diego asked in bewilderment. Peaches was still a bit too shaken to respond.

"Who the heck are you?" Brutus snapped at the sloth. The small outburst surprised Sid in some way, and for some reason, it terrified him. At the same time, however, the sloth couldn't have been angrier with this stranger mammoth; he had seen him charging at his niece, and to him, that was a major no-no. There was no doubt in the sloth's mind that this mammoth, whatever his name was, was trying to kill Peaches..._his _Peaches! _His _herd member! Sid stood there stiffly, facing Diego, Peaches, Rocko, and Brutus dead-on. Honestly, he couldn't believe he was doing this.

Sid narrowed his eyes. "I'm your worst nightmare, _pal,_" he finally answered, trying his best to be scary.

Brutus and Rocko looked at each other. Unexpectedly, they began laughing. They laughed so loud and evil-like, Sid shrank back a little in fear, tapping his claws together nervously. The two intimidating mammoths chuckled a bit more, before their laughter quickly began to escalate into silence.

"You're real funny, you know that?" Brutus declared menacingly, causing Rocko to scoff. Sid gulped, and smiled nervously.

"Uh, yeah, I can be a real knee-slapper sometimes," the sloth quietly pointed out, realizing his horrifying poker face had been dropped. "You know, there was this one time where I- -"

"Hey!" Brutus barked, cutting Sid off and causing the sloth to jolt with fright. "Beat it kid, I've got business to do here." Without giving the meaningless animal another thought, the mammoth turned back to Diego and Peaches. "Now where were we?" he hissed slowly, beginning to approach the duo once more. Sid frowned, and opened up his sack of rocks.

Peaches looked up at Brutus in fear once again, and Diego tried staring Brutus in the eye and growling so he could somehow ward the mammoth off. But Brutus didn't back down; in fact, he growled back and flared his ears. Peaches and Diego quickly began to back up.

A clawed, shaking hand firmly clutched a rock and lifted it up into the air. Sid gripped the softball-sized rock tightly, adrenaline pumping throughout his body. The sloth was empowered with fear, and for once in his life, he felt in charge of the situation. For some reason, having a giant sack of rocks lying right next to you gave you confidence and bravery you didn't even know you had. Sid watched worriedly as Brutus advanced toward Diego and Peaches, and he listened with deaf ears as Diego tried to negotiate with the larger mammoth. He was saying things like "We gave you what you wanted!" and "Leave us alone!", but Brutus wouldn't hear it. Sid gulped, grasping the rock even tighter with nervousness, and readied himself to pitch. He wasn't too keen on injuring anyone...but this time, it was necessary.

With a loud grunt, Sid flung his arm forward and released his missile. The rock jetted straight toward its target, soaring through the air faster than the speed of light. Brutus never noticed the quickly-approaching trajectile, right up to the point where the rock struck him right in his jaw.

"OW!" Brutus wailed upon impact. The rock sent him stumbling in the opposite direction, dizzy and confused as to what just happened. A searing pain shot through the mammoth's head, and he clutched his mouth with his trunk in a desperate attempt to numb the severe discomfort. He blinked several times, yet his vision remained blurry. Diego saw this as a perfect opportunity for escape.

"Peaches, run! Get out of here!" he ordered furiously, nudging the toddler back in the direction that they had come from in the first place. She didn't need to be told twice, and she high-tailed it out of there as fast as she could. Diego watched her disappear into the deepness of the forest, relief flooding over him now that she was finally safe. Diego quickly turned to Sid, who was standing still in astonishment and fright. "Sid, let's go!" he yelled, bringing the sloth back to reality. Diego immediately turned around and began running after Peaches, and Sid quickly followed suit, leaving his lonesome sack of rocks on the ground behind him. Amidst the panic and confusion, Brutus and Rocko watched infuriatingly as their prey vanished out of sight.

Diego, Peaches, and Sid ran and ran and ran. At long last, they were free from this terrifying and dangerous nightmare.

* * *

"Wait, Peaches really stood up to that mammoth and told him off?" Manny asked Diego in disbelief, pressing his ball of ice even harder onto his bruised eye.

The sabre stretched his legs out luxuriously on the soft, dirt ground and nodded. "Yeah, it was really surprising."

Ellie beamed, brushing a few strands of hair out of her daughter's eyes tenderly. "Peaches, I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed, wincing at the pain produced by the large cut on her lip. "What happened next, Diego?"

Everyone was gathered in a small circle inside their den, bathing comfortably in the heat that their little fire supplied. Lord of the Flames tended to it every so often, feeding it twigs and dead leaves. Manny and Ellie both survived their fight, but not without a few minor injuries. At the very most, they'd take maybe a month or two to fully heal. Crash and Eddie had gone door-to-door collecting candies of all kinds until their sacks began to get too heavy for them to carry. Because of the possums' size, they weren't able to carry that much. Upon collapsing inside the den once he arrived, Sid complained of killer back pains, causing Ellie to give him a small, sympathetic massage. Diego and Peaches were both exhausted, their legs worn and numb from the constant walking. Everyone was quite relieved to be calmly sitting and relaxing around a fire, letting their injuries and discomforts heal as they talked about their adventures that night. Of course, Diego was pressed into giving Peaches' parents his full report as to what had happened.

"Well, after that, Brutus started charging at us," Diego began, answering Ellie's question. "Then Sid pops up out of nowhere and throws a rock right in his jaw."

"Yeah, that bozo will think twice before he messes with Sid the Sloth again!" Sid exclaimed with a smile, cringing afterward as he gently rubbed his aching back.

Peaches sat on the ground beside her mother, blocking out all the noises echoing around the den. She was very disappointed; she walked all over the place collecting candy on her first Halloween, and it had all gone to waste. Even after she stood a mammoth up and was almost flattened, she _still _never got what she wanted! All she wished for that night was a simple sack of candy, and after all that hard work...It was unfair. So unfair! She was so excited for tonight and those two idiot mammoths blew it! She felt her eyes well up with tears, and she sighed sadly. Unfortunately for her, Ellie noticed.

"Peaches, honey, what's wrong?" she asked her tenderly. "You okay?"

Again, Peaches sighed. "I didn't get any candy," she whimpered.

"Aw, don't feel bad, Peach," Sid said comfortingly from across the den. "All _I _got was a bag full of rocks."

"And we barely got anything," Crash pitched in cheerlessly, holding up their tiny sacks.

"We're too small!" Eddie elaborated.

"And we got kicked and bitten by kids we didn't even know," Ellie added, "but that's the fun of Halloween, right?"

"Halloween only comes once a year," Manny reasoned. "The least we can do is try to enjoy it. So we didn't get any candy- -but you guys _did _get in some nice walking! And you got to wear your costumes and look at all the decorations! So it's not a complete waste of time, right?" Manny paused, and placed his ball of ice on a bruise on his leg. "I mean, sure, candy was probably the only reason anyone would celebrate Halloween, and sure, you guys didn't get any, but...you...uh..." Manny hesitated, desperately trying to think of something positive to say. Peaches, Sid, Crash, and Eddie all stared at him with disappointment, Peaches sniffling dolefully. "Um..." Manny mumbled, trying to continue.

_Nice attempt to cheer everyone up, Manfred, _Diego thought sarcastically, an unamused expression plastered on his face. While the mammoth was thinking of something to say, Diego suddenly stood up. "I'll be right back," he announced, catching everyone's attention. He briskly left the den before any questions were asked. The herd looked at each other, puzzled at their friend's strange behavior. Sid and Manny shrugged in confusion.

O.o

Everyone was really disappointed, Diego could tell. He couldn't blame them; they'd been waiting for the past year for this "historic" day, and for what? Crash and Eddie had barely gotten enough candy to feed a mouse, Sid got a bag full of rocks, and poor little Peaches got all of her hard-earned candy stolen by a couple of hoodlums. Not only that, but a bunch of bratty trick-or-treaters had beaten Manny and Ellie up and left them lying injured in the dirt. Diego sighed. Yes, Halloween was a dangerous day, and not because of phantoms and ghouls and evil spirits- -because of greediness. Why kids went berserk at the sight of candy on Halloween day puzzled him, especially since they could get their own candy any other day of the year. _If kids these days weren't so vicious, _Diego thought, _maybe my herd wouldn't be sulking right now._

But even if his herd was sad and depressed, the sabre knew they wouldn't be for much longer. As he trotted back to the den from the deepness of the forest, Diego couldn't help but smile at himself as he looked down at the three sacks of candy dangling gently from his mouth.

O.o

"Woah!" Peaches exclaimed. "Uncle Diego, where did you get these?"

Diego smirked. "Can you believe it? Those two idiots forgot them."

Upon arriving at the den, everyone had gone nuts. Their superhero had brought home three large sacks loaded with delicious candy, and not even a split second after Diego had dropped them on the floor, they were being savagely rummaged through by everyone- -even Manny and Ellie. The possums' mouths were wide open and drooling, Sid was gorging himself on the stuff, and Peaches was looking for and eating the most delicious pieces of her favorite candies.

Diego watched them with amusement, proud of himself for turning the tables around. Before, everyone had no candy and was depressed and angered; now, there was plenty of candy for everybody and they were all as happy as can be. _Diego, old buddy, you're a genius, _he thought to himself happily.

Peaches was ecstatic. Her first pieces of Halloween candy! And three whole bags of it- -it just gave her even more of a variety to choose from. She felt like a queen. Boy, her friends were going to be so jealous! Any newfound hatred of Halloween the toddler had was quickly diminished, and started to steadily grow into a great love. _Halloween is the best day ever! _she thought excitedly.

Crash and Eddie were whooping and hollering as they swam through the pool of candies, munching hungrily on anything they wished. Sid wore a large grin on his face, which was covered in various colors of berry juices.

_Maybe Halloween's not so bad after all, _Diego thought sleepily. While everyone was busy rummaging through their treasure, the sabre lay down on the warm, cozy ground for a well-deserved nap.

_Now I just have to figure out how to survive next year._

O.o

* * *

Gah, so lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong!

Did you like it? Are there any flaws you'd like to point out? (I encourage you to.) Did I do a good job with detail, characterization, all that jazz? Please leave reviews telling me what you think. Why waste precious time writing a review? Well... First of all, I enjoy them, second of all, it helps me to blossom into a better writer, third of all, it makes me feel happy. :D See? That's my face when I find out I got another review.

Oh, I also have to apologize: this was actually supposed to be published LAST YEAR. THAT IS HOW BIG OF A PROCRASTINATOR I AM. I wrote this so that I could publish this for the Halloween of 2011, but I procrastinated and procrastinated and procrastinated, ended up having to scramble to get it done at the last minute, couldn't do it, then decided to get it done and publish it NEXT Halloween. So here it is, finally. Actually, I was scrambling to get it done THIS year, too; I finished it a few days ago. I'm so lazy. *sigh* But oh well. Here it is now. :) Hoped you really, really liked it; I've been keeping this on my mind for the past year.

(Yes, I did use the whole cut-out-the-eyes-wrong-in-the-Halloween-costume-and-then-get-rocks-all-night thing from the Peanuts Halloween episode for Sid. I just thought it would be funny. So...that belongs to whoever made the Peanuts.)

O.o

REVIEW PLEASE!


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